By Hadassa Ferreira, Arts & Culture Editor
Higher education is an important and remarkable achievement in most people’s lives. Having the opportunity to go to college is a privilege that many people fought for and that many still have not conquered.
Therefore, separating a day to celebrate college academics and students with excellent achievements seems to be quite right!
This is why at Saint Leo University, an event that marks every Spring semester is the Celebration of Academic Excellence, which is a day separated to celebrate academic achievements, support research students, and honor students who have made a difference in the Saint Leo community during their time here.
This event is so important that the University’s class schedule is modified just to accommodate the Celebration of Academic Excellence event’s schedule.
This means that classes last only 30 minutes and take place just during the morning period. In that way, the Saint Leo community has time to enjoy the academic and artistic presentations that are held during the afternoon period.
This year, the event happened on April 3 in multiple rooms of Kirk Hall with presentations happening simultaneously. The event started at 1:00 p.m. and ended at 5:00 p.m. after the awards ceremony.
At the entrance of the academic building, there was a reception table with the program’s event. Here, people could see which students were presenting and decide which presentations they were willing to watch based on the theme and department.
The Celebration of Academic Excellence counts on the participation of students from all academic fields offered at Saint Leo. From the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business to the College of Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Data Sciences and the College of Health Professions.
This event is a great opportunity for students to present their research projects and showcase to the Saint Leo community what they have been up to. It is a great opportunity for other students to learn about the different types of research projects being developed on our campus as well.
Some of this year’s presentations were “Amplifying Voices, Preserving Lands: Using Professional Writing to Elevate Chipco Preserve” by Maeve Kiley, under Interdisciplinary Studies, and “The Influence of Southern Border Crisis on International Sex Trafficking” by Jacqueline Pollok, under History.
The event also counts on a poster session that goes from 1:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. In this session, the audience has the chance to attend rooms with multiple students who present their posters on a variety of academic topics.
This year’s poster presentations included “The Effect of Intercultural Relationships on Relationship Satisfaction and Cultural Awareness Among College Students” by Tamar Olgin from the Psychology department and “The Relationship Between Spirituality, Personal Growth Initiative, and Depression” by Katelyn Salomon.
After a day full of outstanding academic presentations, there is an award ceremony that starts at 4:00 p.m. and happens in the Board Rooms inside the Student Community Center.
Every year, 21 awards are distributed to students who presented excellent academic performance and community engagement during their years at Saint Leo. Every department awards four students for Excellence in Leadership, Excellence in Scholarship, Excellence in Experiential Learning, and Dean’s Award for Excellence.
Additionally, awards for best poster and best oral presentation are also distributed, as well as the most important ones—the Valedictorian and Salutatorian awards.
This year’s winners of Valedictorian and Salutatorian awards were Kristina Awardy, a senior student double majoring in Medical Humanities and Business Management, and Jackeline Pollok, a senior student majoring in Criminal Justice with Homeland Security with a specialization in International Studies and a minor in World Politics.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to receive the Clara McDonald Olson Scholastic Excellence Award and to be named Salutatorian. Honestly, I never anticipated such recognitions and feel incredibly grateful for the support I’ve received along the way,” said Jacqueline Pollok.
She added, “These recognitions mean so much to me, not only as an individual achievement but also as a reflection of the impactful encouragement from my family and professors.”
Academic Excellence is a day set aside for the celebration of student achievement. It is a time when members of the Saint Leo community gather to highlight and acknowledge the academic excellence and artistic accomplishments of our students.
This year, Saint Leo celebrated this day with great joy, as it has a community full of intellectually and artistically outstanding students!
